Magnetic concentration by an incompressible stagnation flow

The linear incompressible flow $\mathbf{u}=(-\omega x,-\omega y,2\omega z)$ compresses the transverse plane and stretches the axial direction. An axial magnetic field obeys $B_t-\omega r{B}_r=2\omega B+\eta {\Delta }_{\perp }B$. In ideal magnetohydrodynamics, its amplitude grows as $e^{2\omega t}$ while its transverse width decreases as $e^{-\omega t}$. Thus its magnetic energy per unit axial length grows as $e^{2\omega t}$, even when opposite-polarity angular sectors give zero signed magnetic flux. Finite magnetic diffusivity limits the amplification of localized finite-flux Gaussian fields.

For magnetic concentration by an incompressible stagnation flow, one possible normalization gives $(g^2{)}^{\prime }=2\eta -2\omega g^2$, $f^{\prime }/f=2\omega -\lambda \eta /g^2$, and $b^{\prime \prime }+(q^{-1}+q)b^{\prime }+(\lambda -m^2/q^2)b=0$. The mode parameter $\lambda$ is not fixed by decay at infinity alone. The regular axisymmetric Gaussian has $\lambda =2$, $b=e^{-q^2/2}$ and conserved axial magnetic flux, with energy proportional to $g^{-2}$. The radial equation also has regular algebraic-tail solutions.